Hell would rather freeze over before I use FL as my main DAW
— Me, apparently
While I agree that FL definitely needs some MAJOR improvements, all that’s left to overhaul is the optimization of the graphics stack and the MIDI subsystem. My gripes with it got pretty much.. resolved over the years, which are basically:
- Limited channels
- Resolved with dynamic channel counts
- Limited channel effect slots
- “Patcherize all” in any dropdown which turns every plugin into a patcher
- No crossfades
- They added that, and added individual clip volumes as a bonus
- No theming
- Detailed automation controls
- I remember when prior versions had an issue where cloning automations just made a dummy
- There’s currently an issue with new parameter linking in FL, because sometimes last params get overridden and I can’t use the “last tweaked” fader I have on my transport rack
and much more. But now I feel like I have gripes about Bitwig, no matter how wonky FL might be
Bitwig got worse since 6
Even though I have a choice to stay on 5, 6 is being imposed on me for several reasons, including the fact that 5 has essentially been abandoned by the team. While I agree 6 is overall better, it misses some key issues that I had with Bitwig, which I have in a note I shared with a friend y’all might know as the person that drops once in never and devastates the entire dubstep scene
It seems that they also got rid of global track sizing and put in dynamic resizing, which is just… half-arsed and not elegant in the slightest. Viewing tracks is a nightmare because you have to scroll, or collapse a bit, it just becomes a mess
Even though I’ll miss the grid so much, patcher is an awesome thing because it lets you make a plugin with one single knob that basically does what you need it to do, share it with friends and sell it, but grid patches are… just grid patches. You could do more with Plugdata…
They still didn’t fix the horrible browser, they still didn’t fix the track overviews, they still didn’t add AudioUnit support, theming (which is an ACCESSIBILITY feature, after all), they didn’t add tail detection, they didn’t fix the PDC problems that lead to me having to put a leveler kick before everything in the DJ intro to EXIGENT because the transient didn’t click, it just smoothed itself in (as has happened before), they still didn’t fix the undersampling issues with stretch modes, they still have so many issues to fix, it’s unreal.
The major problem I had with the Bitwig team is that they. don’t. listen. None of these issues exist to them because all they do is just make some FM slop and never stress their daws out until the end.
While Bitwig was turning to slop, FL has gotten… strangely better?
Since I was using FL as an assistant to Bitwig in the sense that I was making kicks inside, I grew to know its insides. The strangest thing I feel FL has that Bitwig can never have is the option to disable all plugins in an effect channel (without grouping them) or do something very integral to my workflow: System Stats
FL Studio has a Voice, CPU and RAM usage meter, as well as a little window that shows how much CPU and latency plugins consume. Bitwig only has a CPU usage meter, which is useful, but it’s a bit… crap to look at. What’s using my CPU the most? I have to legitimately cherrypick plugins until I find the right one.
FL Studio also has something Bitwig doesn’t – Audio Workgroups. A macOS feature that’s basically its own scheduler, ensuring even less latency, CPU usage and more flexibility towards the user.
What about personal choices?
They still exist. For instance, certain aspects of my workflow that set me back have been virtually erased, like clip editing or audition of a certain element
Up until now, I was paying for Bitwig on Splice’s Rent-To-Own program. That proved to be financially unsustainable because I’m still a broke college student, and my friend said “lemme give you the producer edition license I have” and now I have a license for FL Studio
FL has has an infinite perpetual license model which doesn’t need me paying for new versions, or anxiously waiting until my license expires and I’m stuck on a version… Logistically, this doesn’t make sense, when I already have a functional DAW that I grew accustomed to, and know much more than the average layman.
I customized my FL to look more like what I want, which isn’t what Bitwig offers flexibly.
It’s something I grew to like, even though it’s like Excel in terms of layout. It’s my first ever DAW!
Epilogue
While I still think some architectural differences give Bitwig an advantage, it still won’t beat a more industry-standard DAW, with a community backing the overall experience and developers that listen.